The brief
Against the backdrop of intensified competition in the grocery retail sector - coupled with ever-changing shopper and consumer requirements - ASDA's meat and fish team wanted to gain the edge and improve their fresh meat and fish product range to maximise sales.
With this objective in mind, they asked us to provide insight into what their customers wanted.
The approach
We set up a quarterly tracking project and devised a research programme that would not only provide insight into ASDA's performance at a set time period against key competitors, but also a view of their customers' requirements for meat and fish products.
We spoke to consumers and shoppers about meat and fish, looking at the importance of such areas as value-for-money, quality, packaging, promotions and provenance. We also communicated with customers at home and in-store through accompanied shopping, meal diaries, observing shopping habits and spontaneous face-to-face interviews.
From the data we were able to advise ASDA on both quick-win areas to improve their range, and longer-term strategies to drive sales at key occasions, such as Easter and the summer BBQ season.
The result
Since conducting the first wave of research, ASDA has introduced several new products into their range to meet ever-changing customer needs.
They have also revised their merchandising to improve the consumer shopping experience, while findings from the research have also been fed into range changes for the year ahead.